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From the author of FOSS & Christians: Some context and a request

first of all, sincere thanks to all LXer readers for their interest in my articles and all the related feedback.

With respect to most of the critiques on LXer, NewsForge and other forums, I have this
comment: sincerely, I must say that most of them only seem justified if their authors
did NOT read both my articles first, from beginning to end (or, as far as Catholics are
concerned, the Eleutheros Manifesto and FAQ).

By this I do NOT mean that such critics are surely wrong: only that they refer to positions
and proposals which I (or D. C. Parris, for example) have NOT taken or suggested.

I think that both my articles can be completely summed up with two
sentences:

* According to their own official teaching, Christians have even more
reasons than others to use Free SW THEMSELVES, and some of them are
starting to realize it and act accordingly. IN THEIR OWN HOME.
Without ever imagining that all FOSS users should become Christian, or
that Christians "own" the FOSS philosophy, or that it can only "be"
Christian.

* To prove this point, here are some references which, by the way,
don't exactly look like some extremely narrow-minded, medieval, bigot,
unprovable superstition.

If you find in these two points, or in my articles, anything which
implies that all Christians are better than all others, than all FOSS
users should become Christians (or are intrinsically so), than FOSS is
more Christian than Buddist or Islamic or everything else, or simply
that this is another reason why any religion is broken, please provide
evidence. If not, let's respect each other and remember the closing
questions of my article.

Quite simply, you brought to the Apostolate a secular issue which does no seem to belong. You also compare every religion as if they all have equal footing amongst each other which is not so. That is all I have to ever say on this site.

"Quite simply, you brought to the Apostolate a secular issue which does no seem to belong":

I think I fully answered such perplexities with the last question of my second article.
Imagine you, or any organization which, like a denominational school or an ecologist club, has some specific set of ethical values in its "mission statement", buying any kind of equipment. How could it ever happen without taking those values into account? When it doesn't, as it often is, it is because of lack of information, time or alternatives, but it doesn't make the method less valid.

If one doesn't practice his or her ethical values, WHATEVER they are, in the secular sphere, what are those values for?

"You also compare every religion as if they all have equal footing amongst each other which is not so":

with respect to THIS specific issue (if and why all religions have specific, "native" reasons to prefer FOSS, or at least if their followers should check if they have such reasons) it certainly is. As far as I am concerned, at least. I'm not certainly going to write a table to find which religion scores "better" from a FOSS point of view (assuming such a quest could ever make any sense or serve any meaningful
purpose)

Software is just a tool. An essential one in the modern world, one which must be evaluated and used properly, accordingly to one's values (whatever they are). For me, software and software licenses, in and by themselves, are nothing to get really fanatic about.

Said this, I really don't understand what your last answer has to do at all with what we should be discussing. The more I read it, the less it makes sense to me, or seem to be on topic at any level.

Please let's stick to meaningful comments and critics, thanks

Best Regards,
Marco Fioretti

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